back when we had floods of newbies registering for the forums specifically to say, "I'm not going to read the comic anymore - because feminism - look at me I'm leaving - no really I'm leaving - bye now - just want to make sure you know I'm leaving before I go - okay bye - wait, don't go, I still have something to say about how I'm leaving now"
uuuurrrrrggghhh

Some time later, after about nine months or so and a change in avatars, crayven changed ShadowCell's nickname to "the California troll", which just sounds like some bizarre twist on a California roll._________________butts

Last edited by Heretical Rants on Thu Mar 06, 2014 7:27 am; edited 3 times in total

Personally I think the Sinfest forums - especially for a selfregulated forum - is quite excellent. I like being here more than I like being in other forums.

Admittedly I don't go to too many forums (as in, this is the ONLY one I go to regularly) but I think for a place that has no moderators it does pretty damn well. It feels like a cozy coffee shop. Most of the regulars are pretty great, there are a few people who are That Guy but we grudgingly put up with them (up to a point). Occasionally someone who really hates the coffee shop comes in and yells about it, and people then yell or snark back at them until they get fed up and leave. Mostly it's a chill place though.

Personally I think the Sinfest forums - especially for a selfregulated forum - is quite excellent. I like being here more than I like being in other forums.

Admittedly I don't go to too many forums (as in, this is the ONLY one I go to regularly) but I think for a place that has no moderators it does pretty damn well. It feels like a cozy coffee shop. Most of the regulars are pretty great, there are a few people who are That Guy but we grudgingly put up with them (up to a point). Occasionally someone who really hates the coffee shop comes in and yells about it, and people then yell or snark back at them until they get fed up and leave. Mostly it's a chill place though.

Hah I like that. I'll be the one sitting with the hot chocolate pretending to drink coffee and throwing cocoa dregs at haters and missing.

I visit a few forums. This one, one that I go to because it has a silly dress up game, one that I really wonder why the fuck I won't abandon it yet and the one from Guild Wars 2 because I like reading dev posts._________________www.cobrasphinx.nl

I'm not actually sure 'don't feed the trolls' is a viable solution a lot of the time, to be honest. Obviously it's very situational and we have, ultimately, just invited discussion of them into our own space since they refuse to come here and talk to us themselves (which, okay, that I can see as a questionable thing to do, for sure.)

But, in my own personal experience and as I've seen other people report... it seems like telling people not to feed the trolls just ends up silencing them and pushing them out of their own space (notably when said troll is sharing that space).

I dunno.

I just don't like the 'don't feed the trolls' advise as a blanket solution to trolls because it never seems to work and it can end up silencing the people being bullied.

Fair enough, it doesn't work as a blanket statement (and lord knows I've rarely followed my own advice on this), but we don't share a space with the shittywebcomics people. In fact, I didn't even know they existed - and was probably better off for it - until someone linked to their site. They never post here (claiming we ban them, somehow), so the only way to engage them is to do it on their site, where they control the conversation, and predictably nothing productive has, as yet, come of it. So we talk about them here... and send more people to them...

So, while it's best not to share your space with trolls, when you have no way of engaging them in a way that's productive ignoring them seems like the best option. Especially when not ignoring them is likely the best thing we can do for them - namely, to inform more people about their existence and include more links to their tumblr so they get more page views. Since they're afraid to post here, the only way they get new views from us is by us linking to them._________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

I'm with ya there, I wasn't exactly thrilled to see this thread pop up again (it was kinda funny the first time, but now that it's so obviously not going to do anything... meh). I think I just have more against the phrase and the mentality of 'don't feed the trolls' as a blanket statement than anything._________________Samsally the GrayAce

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've made the same argument on this forum before (re: engaging can be the best option). I wasn't intending it to be a blanket statement, but applicable to the situation at hand. I admit I worded it badly, though. _________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

For instance, my favorite burlesque dancing comic artist just reblogged this. It's a music video that a guy gave himself 6 hours to write and record the song, build a set, shoot the video, and edit it. It's delightful._________________Samsally the GrayAce